Foxconn Acquires 20 More Acres in Mount Pleasant, But For What?

Cars are parked near a globe at the Foxconn campus Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021, in Mount Pleasant, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

A subsidiary of Foxconn Technology Group has acquired an additional 20 acres of land in Mount Pleasant, but it’s unclear if the company has plans for the land.

The land transfer from the village of Mount Pleasant to FEWI Development Corporation, owned by Foxconn, was recorded with the state Department of Revenue on Jan. 2.

Mount Pleasant spokesperson Sean Ryan said in a statement the transaction was part of the village’s development agreements with Foxconn.

“The Village of Mount Pleasant is living up to agreements that were made several years ago with Foxconn,” he stated. “The development agreements included the village’s commitment to transfer ownership of certain properties if requested by Foxconn.”

Foxconn recently requested the title to property owned by Mount Pleasant and the village transferred that land to the company, Ryan said.

“There are no pending development proposals under Village review for these properties,” Ryan said.

The property included in the land transfer is valued at nearly $4.9 million.

Foxconn did not buy the land from the village. Under the development agreements, the village’s compensation has come in the form of special assessment payments on property already owned by Foxconn.

In a statement, the company said it is “proud to be a part of the Village of Mount Pleasant and appreciates their collaboration throughout the land transfer process.”

Foxconn did not provide details regarding possible plans for the land it acquired.

The land transaction comes after Foxconn qualified for another round of state tax credits in late 2024, bringing the total amount awarded to the company up to more than $52 million. Foxconn says it employs more than 1,000 people and builds data servers in the village.

Those subsidies are part of an agreement between the state and Foxconn that was reworked in 2021 to offer up to $80 million for 1,454 jobs and $672 million in investment.

The deal was reworked after Foxconn acknowledged it would not move forward with its original plans to build an LCD screen manufacturing center that would create 13,000 jobs. The previous agreement from 2017 would have given nearly $3 billion to the company for its initial plan.

Meanwhile, Microsoft last year announced plans to invest $3.3 billion to build an artificial intelligence data center on land previously slated for development by Foxconn. Since announcing its plans, Microsoft has steadily purchased land in Mount Pleasant and now owns almost 1,900 acres.

Microsoft has paused construction on portions of its data center campus, saying it still plans to complete the first phase of the project but is reviewing its plans for additional phases to consider how recent changes in technology might impact the design of its facilities.

Mount Pleasant says local leaders “have no reason to believe” the pause will affect the “overall scope or nature” of the data center project.

Listen to the WPR report

Foxconn acquires 20 acres in Mount Pleasant, but plans for that land are unclear was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.